A rare sheep cart was found in the tomb west of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor

Recently, the Fourth Chinese Archaeology Conference was held in Xi'an. Jiang Wenxiao, the person in charge of the archaeological excavation project of the tomb west of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, introduced at the conference that during the excavation of the chariot and horse pit of the tomb, a real sheep cart was found, which is very rare in the history of Chinese archaeology.

Archaeological excavation site of the tomb west of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology)

In the chariot and horse pit, six sheep were lined up. Although the body of the chariot no longer exists, the accessories used to pull the chariot are still on the sheep bones, so experts infer that it should be a real sheep chariot. The discovery of the sheep chariot in the tomb west of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor enriched the connotation of the chariot and horse burial pit. In addition, archaeologists also found various forms of driving in the burial pit, which greatly enriched the connotation of the chariot and horse burial pit.

In addition, archaeologists also found a four-wheeled wooden cart with a canopy in the north passage, which is the earliest physical object found in China so far, providing first-hand information for the study of burial vehicles in early large tombs. Various types of chariots and different numbers of horses were also unearthed in the chariot and horse pits, providing new information for the study of the use and function of ancient single-axle and double-axle chariots.

It is understood that the tomb west of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is the largest, highest-level and best-preserved tomb discovered in the Qin Dynasty so far, filling the gap in the archaeology of high-level tombs of the Qin Dynasty and is another major achievement of the archaeology of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. At present, the coffin part of the tomb is undergoing laboratory archaeology.

Source: China National Radio Xi'an (Reporter Liu Yu)